Prius annoyances

Well they are still advertising all of those features and NONE of them work. I read the downloadable manual before I purchased. I just brought a 2020 Prius prime home today. Imagine my surprises to find out that I have no app that tells me charging status, no remote anything, no entune anything. Why are they still advertising (and publishing and providing user manuals) that bear zero relation to the cars actual capabilities?

I’m pissed. Bait and switch is exactly what they are doing.

 

User's manuals for every car I've had, over more than four decades, have included features and configurations that didn't match my particular units. Different trim levels, different options, different country, multiple suppliers making subsystems differently, possible features that were excluded from the final build, and changes midway through a production year. So I don't believe you would have any legal recourse based solely on the Owner's Manual.

But missing things listed in advertising, and especially on the Monroney sticker, might be actionable. Find the advertising before it disappears, and document and highlight the missing features. If these are significant, and involve anything essential to you or that would have led you to make a different purchase decision, then you may have leverage for some compensation or to unwind the deal.

Beware that some of the purchase contract fine print may restrict how you may pursue these remedies. And that state law might override some of that fine print.

I have never read a car's Owner's Manual before purchase, so cannot claim such missing features to be relevant to my purchase decisions.

 

The issue here is that the manuals don’t match any car that they sell, let alone the features advertised for my particular model. There really is no way to justify that Toyota is correct here. But nice try.

 

I'd second @bisco's tips, in particular the block heater. We use ours year 'round, but in winter it's particularly good, for raising engine temp quickly. Expect a 20~30C raise in coolant temp, with two hours plugged in. It's pretty much plateau'd by then, maybe a bit later in severe winter cold.

One more:

If thermostat is getting on, it might opening too soon, gasket rubber fraying, so over-cooling. Maybe just replace it (see attachment), and if you're curious: suspend the old and new in a pot of water and bring it up to boil, see how both perform.

Oh, and grill block. With second gen, having the inverter rad behind the lower grill, I'd go no more than 50%. Upper you could 100% block. I only start grill block if temps are staying below 10C. With our mild winters, it's usually just 50% block of lower. On 3rd gen inverter rad is behind upper opening. I pretty much leave that open all the time, would only block it 50%, if I did.



The foam tubing I'm using is 3/4" ID, 1 1/2" OD, readily available at hardware stores as plumbing pipe insulation. I usually secure with some velcro tape: it never comes loose, and is easier to work with than zip ties.

I put the same tubing along the seam between hood and fender, to hold the heat in. That I zip tie and leave in year 'round. Helps keep the engine bay cleaner too I think.

 

https://www.toyota.com/content/connectedservices/marketing/PDF/MY20_Connected_Services_Table.pdf

I went to the above web site and sure enough the 2020 Prius or Prius Prime is listed as Not Available for Remote Connect. However, 2019 Prius Prime is still listed for Remote Connect. As seen on the above table, not a lot are. The rule of thumb I usually follow is if says “available” in front of any advertised capability, it’s an option that must be purchased separately or as part of a package/trim level. Only if it says “standard” would I expect that capability to be included.


iPad ? Pro

 

Your Prius has an orange whisker.